


Your Family. My Family. You're Family.

by LaughingThalia



Series: What Makes A Family Your Family. [7]
Category: DCU, Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Normal Life, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, F/M, Gotham, Gotham Academy, Gotham City - Freeform, High School, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Real Life, University
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-03-31 16:11:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13978773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaughingThalia/pseuds/LaughingThalia
Summary: Kori Anders growing up through teenage insecurities in the world of modelling and all the friends she made along the way.“What are you doing? Those are my friends!”“I'm your friend!”“I can have more than one friend! Just because you don't doesn't mean I can't have more friends either!”Kori's eyes widened “You-!”“I what?! Am I wrong? You hatethat I have more friends than you, that I'm cooler than you and smarter than you and prettier than you. You pretend to be my friend but you're just a petty, jealous, vindictive littlebitch.





	1. Cobblepott High: Winter Formal

**EARTH-25, Main Timeline**  
**LOCATION: Cobblepott High School, Gotham City**  
**DATE: 25/11/2012**

Kori Anders is friends with super smart African-American girl Karen Beecher.

Victor Stone captain of the Football team likes Karen but only Kori sees it but she never says anything because the rest of the team pick on her acne and she doesn't want to lose her only friend to the jocks and popular kids.

Kori sighed as she looked into the mirror she had hung her her locker. She had a volcano erupting on her forehead right along side the many other spots and pimples that littered her face.

“Girl, you need to stop thinking whatever you're thinking.” Karen Beecher said from behind her.

“You don't know what I'm thinking.”

“You're thinking that you're ugly and that everyone's staring at your zit, Kori, no one cares about your zit, this is high school, everyone has zits.”

As soon as the African American girl who was both a super nerd and a cheerleader had said her piece and Kori turned around to face her the Football Linebacker Gerald 'Jerry' Croft sniggered at them “Nice zit ginger.”

Kori screwed up her face in anger and looked back at Karen as if to say 'I told you so' “No one cares huh?”

“Well, he's an idiot, who cares what he thinks!?”

“I care what he thinks!”

Karen sighed “Kori, you are beautiful no matter what those idiots say, I know you won't believe me but that's what I believe with all my heart.”

Kori gave her a weak smiled “Thanks Karen.” She appreciated the effort but the cheerleader with the pom pom hairstyle was right, she didn't believe her.

Kori grabbed her books for her next few lessons and then they headed off to eat lunch, not that Kori would be eating much, she was trying to lose weight (even though Koma, her older sister, had strongly discouraged her “You don't need to lose weight! I looked it up, you're the average weight of woman you age and size!” but Kori Anders had ignored that too).

Everytime she looked in the mirror all she saw was a huge fat whale and all the fat people in her school seemed to carry it well, they were all really pretty for the most part even though some of the guys liked to pick on them for it, but when Kori looked in the mirror and she saw her big fat belly she wished she could just grab a knife and chop it all off.

Karen grabbed a plate of mush and some pudding but Kori had brought a smoothie with her and diligently sucked it down, she'd be hungry for the rest of school but it would be worth it when she was finally pretty.

From across the cafeteria Kori noticed Victor Stone, Captain of the (American) Football team, staring at Karen.

Kori had thought it was obvious that the guy liked her but Karen hadn't seemed to notice and Kori wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible because if Karen didn't know someone better liked her she would never be able to leave Kori.

When Beecher had finished her (barely) flavoured mush the two girls left the food hall and went outside. Karen waved at some of the Freshman friends she'd made in cheerleading. Kori tensed despite herself, Kori may not be all that but she was better than the Freshmen. Right?

Thankfully the warning bell rung and Karen turned away from them to make her way to class. She was a straight A student who was also a cheerleader, plus she was beautiful. It almost didn't seem fair to the average intelligence, average athleticism and below average looking 16 year old Kori Anders but she tried not to hold it against her. They were best friends after all. It wasn't Karen's fault that she was better than her in every way.

 

\-------------

Karen on the other hand loved Kori to death but she was getting sick and tired of her woe betide act. She wasn't fat, she wasn't ugly and she wasn't dumb so why the hell was she complaining? She'd watched Kori grow jumpy and irritable whenever Karen so much as talked to someone else and she was fed up it was only when after school Candy and Cherry Cassidy, twin Freshmen cheerleaders asked her to hang out with them and didn't invite Kori even though she was standing right next to them and Kori basically yelled at them to F off did Karen get truly mad. “What are you doing? Those are my friends!”

“ _I'm_ your friend!”

“I can have more than one frined! Just because you don't doesn't mean I can't have more friends either!”

Kori's eyes widened “You-!”

“What!? Am I wrong? You hate that I have more friends than you, that I'm cooler than you and smarter than you and prettier than you. You pretend to be my friend but you're just a petty, jealous, vindictive little bitch. Tomorrow at school don't talk to me. You and I are no longer friends.” And with that she ran after the blonde twins “Candy, Cherry wait up. I'd love to hang out with you!” She sent a glare over her shoulder at Kori as if to rub it in.

 

To Kori it was like Karen had taken a bucket of salt and poured it into a huge gaping wound in her side.

 

* * *

True to her words the next day at school Karen didn't speak to her and Kori spent the whole day alone.

And the day after that Karen had become friends with the entire football and cheer teams.

And the day after that Victor Stone and Karen were spending some more time together. There was a picture on her Instagram of the two hanging out at Pop's.

And the day after that they changed their Facebook status to 'In a relationship'. Kori wished she could change hers to 'heartbroken'.

And it was two days after that that Kori Anders was approached by the school photographer. It was two weeks until the Winter Formal and of course Kori had no date, it usually wasn't a problem. She went with Karen. This year she wouldn't be going at all and people would talk about it. People were already talking about Karen had finally dropped the dead weight and become one of the popular kids.

Alex Fleming had approached her in her new spot in the Band Room where she ate her packed lunch without the prying eyes of other students and where she wouldn't have to look over and see Karen and Victor making out over sporkfuls of mysterious lunch room 'meat'.

“Hey Kori.”

“Hey Alex.” They'd been in the same class almost 4 years in a row and Kori couldn't recall a single moment where they had actually exchanged words before.

“Could I take your picture?”

She frowned “Why?”

“I think you're really beautiful.”

“You do?” No one besides Karen and her mum had ever said that to her before and they kind of had to.

He smiled at her “Are you kidding? You could be a model the way you look?”

“A model? You don't... you don't think I'm too fat?”

“Fat? Are you delusional or something? Who told you you were fat? You're perfect!” Kori blushed and looked down at her feet. Alex brushed a loose strand of her hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. “Kori... can I ask you a favour?”

“Depends on what it is.”

“I have a project due in for photography class. I basically have to try and get a person to stand in the same position in different, contrasting locations and make it into a cool montage. I was wondering if you would be that person?”

“You want me to be your model?”

“Kori, I want you to be my muse!”

“Um...” She was at a loss of words “Okay, I- I would love to.”

Alex Fleming's face broke out into a smile “Great! Let's get started right here in the band room, stand next to the drum kit in a way you can imitate and I'll snap some shots. If you want afterwards I can print these for you, maybe then you'll see yourself the way I see you.”

Alex was sweet.

And they spent every lunch for a week and 2 days in the band room at lunch, talking about nothing and everything. And everyday after school Alex would drag her to all these fantastic locations for photo shoots and Kori loved it.

Alex thought she was beautiful, she was his muse. She'd never been anyone's muse before. It was an intoxicating feeling and soon enough she was drowning in Alex Fleming.

3 days before The Winter Formal Alex invited her to his house, claiming he wanted to contrast the spectacular landscape they'd been to yesterday with the mundaneness of his bedroom.

His parents weren't home but Kori wasn't worried, they still had a few more locations on the list so they wouldn't be there long and besides Alex was a nice guy. That thought had been an absolute fact until Alex asked her to take her jacket off.

Well not really, taking her jacket off wasn't a big deal. She got a little nervous when he asked her to sit on his bed, but he was still taking pictures. No one documented proof of wrong doing, that would be stupid.

“Hey Kori, would you mind lying on your side and putting your leg up.”

She did as instructed.

“No not like that.” He lowered his camera to look at her through the lens of reality and stepped forward putting a hand on her thigh and directing her into the correct position.

Kori didn't move but she watched his hands like a hawk, so much so that she didn't notice when his lips came crashing into hers. She held her breath for a few seconds, uncomprehending of the situation going on around her and then as if on its own her leg jerked out and kneed him in the stomach.

He fell back with a groan “Ow! Kori!?”

“I- Alex! I- I don't- I'm not- why would -I don't like you like that!”

“I know that. But I thought we were friends. Before when you were talking about virginity I thought that was an offer.”

“What do you mean?”

“You said 'you're a virgin, I'm a virgin too bad we can't fix that' and then I invited you to my house. What did you think was happening?”

“What you said would happen! You would take some photos and I would sit here!”

“Oh God, Kori, I'm so sorry. I honestly thought you asked me to do this. Forget this ever happened, lets just go back to the photo shoot. I actually did want to take pictures.”

The rest of the shoot endured in silence but neither was willing to quit until they'd reached the end of their list for the day. The separated with awkward “Goodbye”s and the next day at lunch Kori sat in the band room, eating her sandwich and Alex never showed up.

Trust Kori Anders to ruin a friendship, she couldn't even keep someone around for three weeks.

 

\-------------

But the next day when Kori arrived at the band room there was Alex Fleming waiting for her “Kori, I'm sorry for before and I'm sorry for yesterday as well I wanted to make it up to you.”

“You don't have to-”

“But I do, you're my friend. Kori, I know you didn't want to go to the Formal because no one was going with you but what if we go together, as friend obviously.”

“You'd do that for me?”

“Well I have to be there anyway.” He gestured to his camera “It may actually be fun if you're there.”

Kori broke out into a grin “I would love to go to The Winter Formal with you. Thank you.”

“Like I said, you're doing me a favour.”

“What colour dresses do you have? Maybe we should try and co-ordinate?”

“Purple tends to suit me best.”

“My dad has a purple tie. Send me a picture of yours and I'll see if they match up enough to wear them.”

 

By the end of that day they were thick as thieves and Alex had confirmed that the purples of their two articles of clothing were the same.

 

\-------------

Kori had never been so excited get to school in her entire life. Alex was driving them in his dad's car and he had just gotten it washed the the car was sparkling to perfection “Like your eyes” Alex had said. Kori couldn't help the blush that had crawled up her neck and onto her face.

They spent half the night dancing and drinking the spiked punch and eating and laughing, with him occasionally taking pictures of the other kids in the hall. And then Alex whispered “How about we have some fun?”

“I thought we already were.”

“I mean like some against the rules fun.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“How about we get out of this hall and into the main school building.”

Kori looked around, the teachers and chaperones were all busy dealing with drunk students and trying to fix the punch to be watching the doors “Let's do it.” She took his wrist and led him straight out of the door.

Little did she know that the football team with Karen and a few other cheerleaders in tow had had the same idea.

Alex and Kori ended up near the locker rooms, the music was so faint and they were quite a while from the main hall.

There was no one around.

Alex took the opportunity to pounce.

He pushed Kori onto the floor in one swift move and her pinned down in another.

“What are you doing!?”

“You embarrassed me two days ago.”

“What? I thought you said it was all okay!?”

“Well I lied. You led me on all this time, you're going to pay for that.” He forced his mouth onto hers and she struggled to dislodge his grip on her but it was like a vice.

He was heavier than her plus he was on top of her so he had the advantage, that didn't stop Kori from fighting.

As soon as Alex parted for some air Kori screamed “GET OFF OF ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME!”

“Shut up bitch!” He stuck his face back on hers. “No one heard you and no one cares.”

Someone did hear her. Cherry a few corridors away “Did anybody else hear that?”

John Newlands, the Quarterback nodded “Yeah, I heard something too. Come on.” He led the group in the direction of the sound and everyone followed, full of curiosity and also looking for some trouble.

Karen and Victor were near the back, barely paying attention. They only had eyes for each other.

John, Candy, Alec, Cherry, Tom, Diana, Joel, Lydia, Tyrone and Melinda all stumbled upon the shocking scene. Alex Fleming holding down Kori Anders and assaulting her with his mouth. Her resistance to the mouth intrusion was very obvious but before any of the appalled girls could do anything to stop it Tom started laughing “Ha! Serves her right, the whore.”

John, Alec, Joel and Tyrone all very awkwardly agreed. They didn't feel that way at all but no one could tell who was lying and who wasn't and no one wanted to be uncool and so the boys laughed and the girls turned away and it was only when Victor and Karen came up for air and to see what was going on outside of their vision did something get done.

Alex who had been happy that his audience had been on his side had his bubble burst by Victor Stone when the hulking mass of a man (teen) dragged him off of her.

Kori was up in milliseconds, tears streaming down her cheeks. She looked around quickly at the crowd who had watched and done nothing. Her dress was ripped, her make up was running and she had tears and snot running down her face.

She took off running down the hall in the opposite direction. She needed out.

“Kori Wait!” Karen took off after her, kicking off her heels so she could catch up. She found the other girl fairly quickly, she had gone to the Band Room. “Kori.”

“What!” She snapped, trying to stem the flow of tears with her dress.

“Oh Kori, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This is my fault.”

“It's not your fault.”

“If I were here-”

“I don't need you!”

“I know you don't. But I need you.”

“Really? You seem to be doing just fine with Mr Captain of the Football Team back there.”

“Victor's my boyfriend. But no one could replace my _best_ friend. Kori I never should have yelled at you.”

“But you were right! I was jealous of you.”

“No one's perfect, we all get a little jealous now and then, so as long as you understand that there's no reason to be jealous. Kori, you're prefect the way you are. Don't change a single thing and I guarantee everyone will love you.”

“Your new friends think I'm a whore.”

“They don't think you're a whore. They're idiots and I will be yelling at them all later about this but none of them think that. But they're teenaged boys and to them sex in any form is a God-send and no one wanted to be the party pooper who broke up the 'fun'.”

“Right fun.”

“Are you okay?”

“I don't know. I mean it's not like he did anything-”

“Kori no. Okay look. Sure he didn't rape you and of course you're not a victim of his or whatever but what he did to you wasn't nothing! You have every right to feel sad or scared or angry or whatever you're feeling right now.”

“I just... He said I was his muse. He was the only person besides you and my parents to call me beautiful. He was funny and nice and kind and he invited me to the dance because he knew how badly I wanted to come. And he just turned out to be a giant creep. How am I supposed to find someone nice when the nice guys are just creeps in disguise?”

“Not every guy is a creep. Like Victor, he pulled that guy off you the moment he saw. Your dad, he's a sweet guy, your little brother, he's adorable. Don't let one bad dude ruin them all for you but at the same time I want us to make a promise to each other.”

“What?”

“Whenever one of us gets a new boyfriend, the other will watch their back, make sure their okay.”

Kori nodded “Okay. So... we're friends again?”

Karen nodded “Yeah. If you want to be. I haven't been a good friend lately. I hate that it took seeing you hurt to realise how much I care about you.”

“It's okay, I wasn't the easiest friend to have around.”

Karen shook her head “No, that's not a good enough excuse.”

Victor poked his head around the corner “Hey Principal Wheeler had Alex in his office, all the guys told him what happened. They're sorry they didn't do anything... apart from Tom but Tom's a jerk.”

“Thanks.”

Kori had her friend back. And even if he had turned out to be a jerk Alex had still thought she was pretty just the way she was. Maybe when Karen and her mum and her dad and her sister said it they weren't just lying to be nice. Maybe there really was nothing wrong with the way she looked. Maybe she never had any reason to be jealous in the first place.

She hugged Karen and her eyes pricked with tears. Karen and Kori, the K-duo. This was where she was supposed to be. Victor left them to hug it out.


	2. Gotham City University: Kick Starter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kori's University days and meeting Rachel Roth.

**EARTH-25, Main Timeline**  
**LOCATION:Gotham City University, Gotham City**  
 **DATE: 01/10/2016**

Kori Anders had come a long way since high school. Rather than complain that Karen was smarter than her, she changed the way she studied and she soon found she had caught up to her which every teacher had been surprised by, they had been sure she was cheating somehow but the results didn't lie and soon enough she'd gotten herself a half scholarship to Gotham City University (not to be confused with Gotham University, we're not good at naming Universities).

Her brother was helping her move in (meaning she pretended she couldn't lift the boxes so he had to) and soon enough all her stuff had been moved to the dorm room. Her room mate appeared to have already moved in so Kori put her stuff on the other bed and went about organising her things. Whoever her room mate was... she appeared to be the opposite of Kori in every way. She had punk rock emo band posters on her side which were the opposite of the glossy posters of magazine covers she would be sticking up later, her room mate had black bed coverings which contrasted Kori's purple duvet. Speaking of which her room mate chose that moment to return to their shared room. She looked a bit shocked to see Kori and Ryan in there but she quickly recovered when she noticed Kori unpacking and Ryan pretending to help her.

“Hi, I'm Rachel Roth.” She held out a hand to Kori who stood up to greet her.

“Kori Anders, nice to meet you.” She gestured to her brother “This is my little brother Ryan.”

“Sup.” he said giving her a fist bump. Kori rolled her eyes.

Rachel Roth was exactly what she had expected from the way she decorated her room. She had a short purplish bob that was impossibly straight at the end. She wore a black crop top with black high wasted ripped jeans, fishnet tights underneath and steel toed, studded, black Doc Martins on her feet. Everything about her screamed 'GOTH!' from the choker on her neck to the thick cuff on her wrist and the Raven tattoo right on her right collar bone. Kori herself was wearing a yellow summer dress that had a skater skirt quality to it, her red converses and a red letterman jacket that Ryan had gotten her as a going away present.

The two of them being room mates seemed like the plot of some wacky sit com and yet here they were.

Rachel smiled at her though “I was just checking out the Campus, it's pretty good.”

“Yeah, it is. My sister went here a few years ago so hopefully it hasn't changed too much or all my insider knowledge will be useless.”

The two laughed “I'm studying art, design and fashion, what about you?”

“I'm doing Physics, with a focus on astronomy.”

“Space huh? Who would have pegged you as a nerd.”

Ryan added “She's also an amateur model.”

“A model?”

“I go to modelling classes on Wednesdays and Saturdays. You'd be surprised how much there is to learn.”

“Mmm, well when I'm doing my designs maybe you could model them?”

“I'd love to!”

From there the two girls who were so different became great friends. Ryan left later on and reminded her not to forget to call every week otherwise mum would go ballistic.

 

\----------------------

They'd known each other for 2 months before Rachel ever told her anything about her family. Well it wasn't so much told her and more her father showed up in their dorm room one day and Rachel had frozen “Father.”

“Rachel.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Is it so crazy that I just wanted to see my daughter.”

“Yes.”

Kori winced “I'll just...” She pointed at the door.

“No.” Rachel grabbed her wrist “Don't.” She looked back at her dad “My father was just leaving.”

“Rachel I just want to talk to you-”

“You forfeited the right to talk to me a long time ago. Leave now or I'm calling Campus security.”

“Rachel!”

“And the police.”

With a huff he pushed past them and stormed out of the door and down the hall. Kori quickly locked the door in case he tried to come back and Rachel sunk onto the ground. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I just... me and my dad... we... we don't have the best relationship. He knocked up my mum, knocked her about for 10 years of my life and then skipped town when she got cancer. My mum tried to take care of me for as long as she could but she was sick. After social services concluded she could no longer take care of my I got put into foster care. They barely let me visit her. When she died I hadn't seen her in 3 weeks.”

“I'm so sorry that happened to you.”

“That's life I guess.”

“So you have no family?”

“Since I don't count my father, pretty much. My mum had no siblings and her parents died when I was 4.”

“So you don't have anywhere to go this Christmas?”

“I usually just hang out at Denny's.”

“Alone?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to come to my Christmas?”

“What?”

“With my family.”

“I don't want to intrude.”

“You wouldn't be. My mum loves having people around at Christmas, the more the merrier.”

“No one's ever invited me to their Christmas before.” Her eyes watered and she tried to blink away the tears “Thank you. I would love to come.”

That night Kori went down the the security desk and told them to make sure the man who had come in earlier never got on Campus again and if he tried to text her. They didn't ask too many question, especially when they saw the video of him. He was a big guy, with muscles for days and a mean look on his face when he didn't get his way.

On 24th December the two girls left the Campus with their over night bags and Kori had presented the goth girl with a cheery Christmas sweater. “That sweater is an affront to fashion.” Rachel said, examining it with a horrified look on her face.

“it's not for fashion, it's for fun! Come on, everyone will be wearing one at my house, we're very cheesy.”

She shook her head like she couldn't believe what she was about to do and pulled the sweater over her head. “Let's go before somebody sees me.”

Kori laughed and called them an Uber to take them to her house across town. When they arrived Ryan, her little brother; Koma, her world travelling older sister; Luan, her mother and Myles, her father, were all there to greet her at the door.

They enveloped her in a hug and for a second Rachel felt very awkward standing to the side as this family that loved each other embraced but then Koma pulled her into it as well. They all introduced themselves to her and Rachel smiled at everyone and thanks them for letting her join them, Luan just waved it off and started handing her some eggnog with a wink.

“Mother! We're only 19 and yet you entice us with the devil's juice!”

Luan laughed at her daughter's antics “It's just this once, you won't see another drop of alcohol until your 21st.”

Koma added “You know it Europe they can drink when they're like 18.”

Myles shrugged “Well unfortunately for these two girls, we're not in Europe.” He plucked the eggnog out of Kori's hand before she could take a sip and drank half of it before handing it back.

“Oh come on!”

eventually the conversation moved on and Koma started telling them about all the places she had been since she'd last been home. “I was in Guatemala a few months ago to help build some houses and I saw Tikal this ancient Mayan city. It was beautiful, truly. I can't even describe it but like imagine these giant pyramid like structures but they've got like little buildings on the top and they have stair on them. I'm in awe even now.”

“So you travel a lot huh?”

“Oh yeah. My goal is to go everywhere. I even have a sponsorship from Red Bull since going everywhere is pretty extreme.”

“Yeah! That is pretty extreme! So you make vlogs?”

“Yes, you can find them on Youtube, Vimeo and on Netflix; it's called Anywhere, Everywhere. I'm surprised my dear sister has not been running around Campus telling everyone about it.”

Kori shrugged sheepishly “Sorry sis.”

“It's fine, you don't have to plug for me. Now I know you're doing Physics and space or whatever but what are you doing Rachel?”

As she told them about her design course the conversation soon turned to her. And as the conversation turned to her Ryan being the dumb highschooler that he was, out his whole foot in his mouth and asked “So how comes you're not at your own Christmas?”

Kori almost yelled at him. She'd specifically instructed them NOT to ask about her family but it seemed the little dipshit had forgotten. Great.

“Oh um... I don't really have a family.”

“Not have a family? How can you not have a family? Everyone has a fam-”

“Ryan.” Luan snapped, warningly.

“No it's okay.” Rachel insisted “You're right I do have a family but my mum died 8 years ago and my dad is just a jerk so I cut him out.”

An awkward silence fell over the family but as if to rescue them from their misery the door bell rang. Myles stood up to get it and joked “Saved by the bell.”

When he answered it her saw Karen, Cherry and Candy all carrying presents and wearing equally ridiculous sweaters. The twins were wearing matching ones.

“Girls, it's lovely to see you!”

“Hi Mr Anders. We saw Kori was back home on her Snapchat story so we thought we'd come say hi.”

“You saw on her what?” He asked.

Cherry went to explain and then gave up “Never mind.”

Kori who had heard the familiar voices at the door and shot up like a rocket and dragged Rachel with her to the front of the house “Karen! Cherry! Candy! Oh my God you guys!” She hugged them all and then introduced them to Rachel “This is Rachel, my room mate. Rachel this is Karen Beecher, my best friend friend from Highschool and these are the twins Cherry and Candy Cassidy.”

They all exchanged pleasantries.

“What are you two doing now a days?”

“We joined a dance troop, turns out cheerleading skills help with dancing. We're called Skrto. Because scirto is latin for dance and you know... SKRRRRT.”

Myles looked very confused “What?”

“Never mind.” They all said in unison.

“Well then, clearly I am too old for this conversation.” and he left the five girls to their millenial conversations.

Karen nodded “I've seen them perform, they're really good.”

“You two were high school cheerleaders?” Rachel asked the twins.

“Karen was too.” Candy added.

Cherry laughed “Only she was also mega smart as well as being hella athletic.”

Kori pointed at Karen “This girl right here is a *Mary Sue, she's smart, she's a cheerleader and she dated the head of the Football team.”

“Still dating.” Karen corrected. “It's a littler harder now since he got into College on a Football scholarship.”

“Where's Victor going now?” Kori asked.

“Metropolis.”

“MU?! That's so far away!”

Karen smiled like 'yeah,what can we do about it though' “We're trying to make it work long distance. Although I will admit I have some friends in the Superman City keeping an eye out on where his eyes wander.”

Rachel laughed “Good policy, you can never be too sure.”

Cherry's phone buzzed “Mum wants us back. We should go before she gets mad at us for leaving the house on Christmas Eve.”

Candy agreed “Let's take a picture for old times sake.”

Rachel held out her hand “I'll take it for you.” Candy handed her the phone and the four girls huddleed together by the door, smiling into the camera lens. “Say cheese.”

Cherry was the only one who actually said “Cheese.”

 

\----------------------

It was almost half a year later that Rachel invited one fo the graphic design students to their dorm to talk business. She was launching her brand and she needed help with a logo design. Fashion and advertising were two very different animals and Raven didn't know how to handle the graphics side of things. She aslo needed a website whitch was where Anthony 'Drummer' Drummond and River Johnson came into things. Drummer was a graphic design student who had just done a whole unit on logos and how they were made and River was a computer Science student who had already created websites for people. Between the three of them they should be able to piece together a banging website and logo but first she had to work out contracts.

She showed Drummer her tattoo “As a logo how good or bad is this?”

“Mmm, the circle is good, logos love circles but I think the details are too intrcite. The logo is probably going to end up smaller than that for labels and stuff so it should be more... solid. On shirts and stuff that would be good but as the final form of the logo, it nees to be a bit simpler.”

“And how much would it cost to get you to design it for me?”

“$100 flat fee plus 5% of every shirt that uses it as it's main design and 2% of anything with the logo on it on the label.”

Rachel mulled that over “Okay, that seems okay, but I'm going to have to finalise that. Now River, I need a website for my shop that I will be able to update without help.”

“I'll send you my templates you and Drummer can work on the actual aestetic of it but once you pick what you want and I have any art work needed to realise that that will be a cool $350.”

“God, $450 I'm about to fork over to you two on this. Hopefully I'll make my money back but I'll be opperating at a loss.”

Kori who had been on the other side of the room doing Physics homework leaned over towards them “If I front just under half the start up cost can I get just under half of the shares or however business works?”

Rachel looked at her for a second. “How would that work?”

“I'm not sure how stocks work but you're the CEO and founder so you can sell them to me anyways.”

 

“And you'd use your money on me?”

“Well A) I believe in your brand, i've seen your designs. They're good. And B) it would be an investment. That's how stocks work I think. I'm supposed to make it back somehow. I have a friend who does economics, I'll ask her how all this works but yeah I'll front the cash.”

Rachel thought about it for a second “How about 70/30 to you.”

“Deal.”

“Okay then, she jotted everything down on some paper $100 to Anthony Drummond, 5% of shirts with logo, 3% of labels for the logo. $350 to River Johnson for the website. Kori Anders is paying $135 for 30% of the company shares. Okay, I will type this up as an actual contract, you guys can review it, take it to a lawyer or whatever and then we can all meet back up with a witness and sign this contract and everyone will get a copy then we'll scan it in so we have a digital copy as well.”

Drummer nodded “My cousin is a law student here so I'll get him to do it for free, he owes me.”

“Great. Nice doing business with you guys.” She shook ahnds with the two guys and exchanged phone numbers and emails.

 

\----------------------

It was a little while after that, after they'd finalised their contracts that she got her new logo back. And soon after that the website followed. A little while after that the samples of Rachel's clothing arrived in a box at their door and she sqealed loudly “OH MY GOD KORI! THIS IS IT!”

Kori leapt up from the NASA podcast she had been listening to and chucked her bed on the bed as she dived towards the box. “Open it!”

“I am!” She opened the box and pulled out hoodies, shirts, trousers. Rachel teared up “All my desings... in real life.”

Kori laughed happily “They look amazing!” She picked up a black cropped top with mid legnth ruffled sleeves and a circle with a triagular pattern inside it on the front. “Can I wear this?”

“Kori! You're my model. Where everything and let's get pictures before we lose light!”

Kori changed into some of the clothes and Rachel grabbed her camera and the two girls raced through the halls and down the staris to snap pictures, sqealing like little girls.

Kori put all the skills she'd learnt at model school to use and posed.

With the one click of Rachel's camera Kori's modelling career was kickstarted.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art of Raven and Starfire is from Picolo. The Raven pattern I just got from the internet. Drummer and River Johnson are from DC Comics.
> 
>  
> 
> **A/N: Myles Anders and Luan Anders were based off the names of Star's parents in the TTG comics which are Myand'r and Luand'r.**
> 
>  
> 
> ***Mary Sue - An idealised and seemingly perfect fictional character. A female fanfiction character who is so perfect as to be annoying. The male equivalent is the Marty-Stu.**
> 
>  
> 
> **I'm in a constant state of 'Do i write it in the American way because the character is American or do I just stick to what I would do because I'm British?'**


	3. Modelling School: Made It™

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _This was it, she had made it, she was famous._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted after _'Ashes on Sunday on Saturday'_ but set before so I'm moving the chapter to be in front.

****EARTH-25, Main Timeline**  
 **LOCATION: Madame Gigi's Modelling Agency, Gotham City**  
** **DATE: 25/03/20** 18

 

Kori had been going to modelling school for the better part of 3 years now and she liked to think she was pretty good at it. Her Instagram was banging and she almost had 50k followers even though she only followed 100 people, that was pretty good for a non-famous person. And also this was the best modelling school in Gotham, pretty much every famous Gotham model had come through here at some point and it's hard to say whether it was just coincidence because they were all already good or whether Madame Gigi was really just that good. Madame Gigi was the trainer, the Tyra Banks to their America's Next Top Model. She was a stern lady from France, hence the 'madame' thing, she smiled a lot and she never frowned but that didn't make her any less scary when she was angry. So she didn't get wrinkles she would glare at you and yell in a very loud, Gordon Ramsay type way, almost demeaning to the point of having made several girls cry. It toughened them all up though, when a career is based solely on looks it can be easy to get hurt, you needed thick skin to be a model.

She was in her last year of university and Rachel's company was going pretty well with Kori Anders as the main female model. Of course to demonstrate other sizes or men's clothes Rachel used other models but when you scrolled through the website it was lit up by the glow of Kori's red hair.

It was nice, she got her commission from modelling plus her commission from being a shareholder which made being a student a lot easier and it meant she had extra time to take modelling classes and not let her school work suffer because she had to work an extra job.

She was at said classes on Saturday when Madame Gigi made an announcement “Girls, I have some exciting news!” Everyone gathered around to hear what she was going to say “Next Saturday we will be getting a very special visitor! Mari McCabe!”

Everyone erupted into chatter and one of the girls, a pretty traditional-looking Muslim girl with the most startling green/hazel eyes squealed “From Detroit?!” (BTW I'm not saying a Muslim looking girl who is also pretty [although she is] I'm saying someone who looks quite traditional with the hijab).

“Yes,” Gigi confirmed “The one from Detroit. She's part of a series on modelling schools in America so of course she will be coming here, interviewing some of you girls and taking a picture for the article.” She picked up a stack of papers “I need you to sign these forms and give them back to me by our Wednesday session and all will be in your first big feature. Who knows a talent scout might read it and poach you right from my nose.”

No one corrected her that it was 'right underneath my nose' because they were all too excited. Mari McCabe was a modelling legend (and to those in the know, which Kori was not, she was also the super heroine, Vixen) She had been adopted and spent a lot of her formative years wondering about who she really was and practising fashion design. She would model her own stuff and although her clothes never gained a lot of traction in the early days her modelling did and now that she's famous she's opened up her own line called _Fera_. Mari was never rich, she was never famous until she'd made it but when she made it, she made it big. She was an inspiration and a hero to many including pretty much everyone in that class.

By the time the session had ended pretty much everyone had already signed the contract and were planning what to wear the next Saturday.

* * *

After 3 weeks had gone by, a week for the photo to be taken and 2 more for the article to be written, the photo to be edited and for it all to come together in the magazine. 3 weeks of baited breaths and whispered excitement and anticipation so strong it almost made her sick.

The team that had swept in with cameras and lights and Mari freaking McCabe had interviewed everyone although they had informed them that not every one would be featured so it would be a complete surprise when the article came out who got chosen and who got cut.

Madame Gigi bought everyone a copy and then when they got to class that week she handed them out to everyone. They were on the front cover, there Kori was along side all of her modelling friends and MARI MCCABE “Okay girls,” Gigi told them, as excited as they were “Open your magazines to page 1 and 2.”

They all flicked it open and there it was, the double spread with more pictures of them and some of their interviews.

Gigi read through the names of those who had been chosen “Janice, Lori, Tambi, Zara, Ablah and Kori; congratulations you are all featured in the magazine.”

The named girls all squealed and leapt up and down, Kori broke away to read through her own interview, to see what they had said about her.

 

_Up and coming model, Kori Anders, has been going to Madame Gigi's school for 3 years and her hard work seems to have paid off as she models for her friend, Rachel Roth's, clothing brand RAVEN and has over 50k followers on her Instagram @ҜoriΔnders. When asked why she became a model Anders explained a bit about her past “In high school I only had one friend, she was a great friend, we're still friends now but she was a Mary Sue. She was smart and pretty and she was a cheerleader and she had loads of friends and I was jealous of everything she was and scared she wouldn't need me anymore. I also got bullied a fair bit, for the stupidest stuff, like acne, even though we were teens and we all had acne and for being a bit chubbier than the average girl. I didn't want to bother my friend so I just never said much about it and that led to us falling out but when we became friends again she told me that I was beautiful no matter what and that she wasn’t just saying that because she was my friend. She'd always said that but I'd never believed her. When I believed her my confidence sky rocketing I got more friends and I got into modelling.”_

_Anders is beautiful, there's no denying that and it really makes you think; if someone like her, a literal model, can be bullied for being ugly than surely what bullies say can't be true. Daniel Terrocot, award winning photographer, described Kori as “a beauty so majestic there are no words in the English language to describe how beautiful. I've photographed a lot of people in my day, no one has ever affected me the way she has.” Clearly, she left quite the impression on Terrocot and on everyone that sees her and we expect to see great things for her modelling career in the future._

 

“Wow.” She said, in utter shock. At risk of sounding arrogant, she knew she was pretty but what Daniel Terrocot was saying about her was unfathomable. This was next level. And it might explain the surge in Instagram followers she'd gotten that day, she'd already passed the 60k mark by lunch time, she had just assumed she'd ended up on the Instagram explore page or something.

Kori quickly turned her phone back on, they weren't supposed to be used during class time but she just had to check.

She had 1.1M followers. She'd doubled her followers in a day. And she had so many DMs, some from brands asking her to sponsor stuff and others of photographers in Gotham asking to work with her and even more of just men she didn't know saying she was beautiful and next time she was in [Insert town here] they should hang out. This was it, she had made it, she was famous.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PS I know that article sucks and a real article would not be like that. The Journalists in the DC universe are just really bad at their jobs okay, that's why none of the Daily Planet know Superman and Clark are the same people. I mean Iris West couldn't even figure out that her best friend and adoptive brother (CW) was The Flash.


	4. Ashes on Sunday on Saturday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PS I tried to add in some Dick Grayson being Romani, I know nothing about Romani people or gypsies so I'll apologise in advance to how inaccurate it will be
> 
> If you want to see where I got those Gypsy star signs from here it is ---->  
> http://zodiacday.blogspot.com/2013/05/gypsy-horoscope.html
> 
> I'm a dagger sign so watch out!

****EARTH-25, Main Timeline**  
**LOCATION: Kori's Apartment, Gotham City**  
** **DATE: 25/07/2018**

 

_Dick Grayson has liked your photo. 15:14_

 

Mmm that's cool.

 

_Dick Grayson has liked your photo. 15:15_

_Dick Grayson has liked your photo. 15:15_

_Dick Grayson has liked your photo. 15:15_

_Dick Grayson has liked your photo. 15:15_

_Dick Grayson has liked your photo. 15:15_

_Dick Grayson has liked your photo. 15:15_

_Dick Grayson has liked your photo. 15:16_

 

He's spamming her! Dick Grayson the multi-billionaire is spamming _her_ with likes. Cool.

She was unsurprised when a day later he slid into her DMs. Typical. She almost blocked him just because, except he hadn't actually said anything bad. He hadn't asked for nudes or for her number or told her she looked so good but she'd look better in bed with him or something equally as cheesy. He'd simply said his friend was a big fan of hers and her birthday was coming up and if he could get a signed print for her, he asked her price, it was nice that he hadn't expected her to just hand it over for free when this was her lively hood, her profession.

He seemed nice. Which Kori didn't often come across in her Instagram DMs, it felt nice.

She figured she'd be nice too and give it to him for free anyways, and so she grabbed her phone and replied.

 

 **@KoriAnders:** _Hey Dick, I got the signed print just wondering how you want to get it?_ ✓ ✓ 15:03

 

 

 **@AmazingGrayson:** _Well I would say mail it but we literally both live in the same-ish area of Gotham. Maybe we can meet up somewhere and we can trade cash for picture?_ ✓ ✓ 15:06

 

Kori pondered the thought, it made sense, and her modelling coach was always telling her to become friends with people who can open up doors.

 

 **@KoriAnders:** _How about instead of cash you pay for a cup of coffee and we can hang out for a bit?_   ✓ ✓ 15:08

 

 **@AmazingGrasyon:** _AmazingGrason is typing (…) 15:09_

 

 **@AmazingGrayson:** _Yeah, I would love that! Name the time and the place._  ✓ ✓ 15:10

 

 **@KoriAnders:** _How about Canary Coffee down-town at 13:00_.  ✓ ✓ 15:11

 

 **@AmazingGrayson:** _I LOVE CANARY COFFEE!!!_   ✓ ✓ 15:11

 

 **@AmazingGrayson:** _Yeah so tomorrow? 1 PM, Canary Coffee I'll see you there._   ✓ ✓ 15:11

 

 **@KoriAnders:** _Great, can't wait ;-)_ ✓ ✓ 15:12

 

 

The next day Kori flicked through her wardrobe. Usually she never thought twice about what she wore because she could pretty much carry off anything but this was _Dick Grayson_ , he was rich. What if he judged her?

She had gone through her entire closet twice and stepped back and sighed, she was thinking too hard, this was the one thing she was great at she needed to trust herself. Okay that's not true she was also good at Physics but still fashion was another thing she was great at the point still stood that she needed to trust herself.

She closed her eyes and calmed herself down, what should she wear?

As if she'd been inspired by God she moved to an off the shoulder white crop t-shirt that said “What if we rewrite the stars?” on it and she paired it with blacked ripped jeans, with white fishnets underneath and black wedges heels. She moved onto make up and decided to just leave it at foundation and her signature red lipstick since she'd spent too long picking out clothes and she was cutting it a bit close.

She slipped the print into her purse , secured with some cardboard, along with her purse, phone, portable charger, her lipstick and some Vaseline and then grabbed her car keys and bounced.

When she pulled up she got a few stares, most were looking at her car at first but when she hopped out and pulled on her sunglasses, the gazes shifted to her and then a few disappeared when girlfriends slapped the owners of those eyes for staring.

Eyes followed her down the street as she made her way to Canary Coffee, it was a common occurrence but it didn't make it any less unnerving.

She looked to the ground as she swept her hair to the side only to have it fall back into her face, it didn't really matter she hadn't been trying to fix her hair, she'd only wanted something to do with all these eyes on her. When she looked up there was Dick Grayson. She noticed lots of eyes were on him too.

When he saw her, he smiled at her and they met at the entrance of the coffee shop and introduced themselves even though they both already knew who each other were.

Being a semi-celebrity meant that often happened to her, introducing herself to people who definitely already knew her.

As per their deal Dick bought her a coffee and since it was lunch-ish time asked if she wanted some food.

“Oh yeah, I am kinda hungry. I'll pay for that one though.”

“It's no trouble.” he insisted.

Kori floundered for a second, on one hand free food, on the other she didn't want him to pay for her when she could pay for herself “Okay, how about you buy lunch today and then I'll get you back later?”

Dick smiled at her invitation to a second meeting “I can live with that.” Dick noticed the quote on her shirt and frowned “Greatest Showman?”

A man who liked musicals starring Hugh Jackman, that was a kind of man she could get on board with. “Yeah, I liked the movie.”

“You know PT Barnum was a terrible guy, didn't pay his people properly, abused the animals.” He sounded genuinely upset by it, not that it wasn't upsetting but he seemed more upset than everyone else she'd talked to about Barnum had.

“Yeah I know, I just like the movie.” There was a pause as her awkward reply ended the path of conversation so she scanned her mind for a way to restart it “How'd you find out about Barnum?”

Dick shrugged “I just always knew.”

“Really?”

“Well, I grew up in the circus so Barnum was like the example of what not to do.”

“You grew up in the circus?”

“Oh yeah, Haley's Circus until I was 9 and then-” He cut himself off.

It took Kori a couple of seconds to realise why, of course she'd heard about his parents' death, who hadn't? “I've lived in Gotham my whole life.”

Dick seemed glad for the topic change “You never thought of leaving?”

“I have, my sister travels the whole world, has a sponsorship and a show and everything but I can't imagine leaving Gotham for a long time like that. Gotham's a part of me.”

Dick nodded “Mmm, I know what you mean. I used to feel like that.”

“Used to?”

“Well I didn't go far but I was in Blüdhaven for a year or two, I only just moved back recently.”

This time Kori connected the dots a lot quicker and mode sure to steer clear of the 'Why'd you come back?' question since it was probably linked to Bruce's tragic death. Instead she said “What were you doing in Blüdhaven?”

“Blüdhaven is weird, it's like very similar to Gotham but they don't seem to care what Gotham does at all, no one knew who I was so I worked in their police department. I was a cop.”

“You were a cop?”

“Yep, Officer Grayson.”

“That's pretty cool.”

When their food arrived Kori asked “So who's the print for?”

“My friend Barbara Gordon, the Commissioner’s kid, we've been friends since I was like 9 and her birthday's coming up so I wanted to get her something she'd love. And you know she's got a pretty good job with the government, she's in computer science so she's making good money and you know... she's been a rock for me this passed couple months and I wanted to get her something that showed that I knew her and that I appreciate her.”

“And she's really a fan of me?”

“Oh yeah, she loves you! Just last week she went and bought herself those blueberry muffins you like because you rated them so highly. Apparently they were really good, I wouldn't know, she refused to share.”

Kori laughed and Dick couldn't help but thinking how her laugh rang in his ears like tiny bells, beautiful in an almost ethereal fashion. He'd always thought books about love were cheesy but looking at Kori Anders now, the way she threw her head back and laughed, the way her hair flowed like a waterfall, the way she snorted and that just caused her to laugh harder – Dick thinks he finally understands what all those cheesy novels were talking about. “They _are_ really good. Well, when's her birthday, I'll send her a birthday message.”

Dick replied “August 15th she'll be 24. She's a year older than me.”

“You're 23?”

“Well no, I'm 22 but the way our birthdays line up... I turn 23 in November.”

“Oh, okay. My birthday's May 1st, I'm a summer baby.”

“So you're a Taurus? I'm a Scorpio.”

“What does that mean?”

“They're opposite Star signs, they're supposed to come together intensely – whether that's negative or positive is undecided.”

Kori laughed her bell laugh again “Well I would say it was positive.” Then she cringed jokingly “At least I thought so. How do you know that?”

Dick shrugged “Romani, the circus. There's always a fortune teller around somewhere. My mother, she used to use gypsy signs which are a bit different from the star signs. You'd be a Crown and apparently I'm a Knife.”

Kori pulled a face “A Knife? That doesn't sound good. What does it mean?”

“I'm supposed to be good at evaluating my surroundings, and making quick decisions which is-was good because I was a police man. I'm also supposed to mysterious and dignified.”

“Well you're hardly mysterious.”

“Well you say that, but all of my old colleagues didn't know who I really was for a year and a half. My partner didn't even know anything about my brothers.”

“Well what about me? Crown, what does that mean?”

“You're loyal, you're strong, you're noble, you like you're luxuries-”

“-well who doesn't!”

“-but you like to work for those luxuries, and you don't like working under other people, you like working for yourself.”

“That's actually pretty accurate, I've always been self employed. More or less. I'm a model so that's all me, and I own 30% of the clothing line R-”

“RAVEN, your friend has some pretty dope designs.”

“You know of her?”

“All from Barbara, she bought that bomb-ass raven coat. She wears it all the time.”

Kori grinned “I'll be sure to tell her that her designs are appreciated. So, you and Barbara, you've been friends since you were 9?”

“Yeah, she was the first kid my age who I met. I hadn't started school at Gotham Academy yet so I was just sort of doing nothing and Bruce... Bruce dragged me to this charity gala thing and since she's the commissioner's daughter she had also been dragged along so we ended up hanging out and the rest is history.”

“You ever date?”

Dick groaned “There was a brief time when I was 14 and she was 15, I was pretty cool at school since she was an 'older woman' and all. We were dumb teenagers, we only really dated because it seemed like the best thing to do.”

“You'd been best friends for so long that it only seemed right.”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“You never told me how Crown and Knife match up. Are they intense too?”

“Gypsy signs aren't really like that. We can be whatever you want us to be. What do you want us to be?”

“I want us to be planning for a second date.”

 

Dick smiled “So this is a first date?”

 

“If you want it to be. Do you want it to be?”

 

“I definitely want this to be a first date.”

 

Kori grabbed a pen from her bag “I know this doesn't really have the same effect since we have social media and all but...” She grabbed his hand and scribbled her number on it “there's my number.”

“Wow, I feel like I've been thrown back to 2008.”

Kori grinned “There's no replacing the romance of writing your number on someone's arm.”

“What? You mean 'hey girl send me your snapcode' isn't as romantic?”

“I'm going to have to say no to that one.”

They both finished eating and as promised Dick paid the bill “So where to now?” He asked.

“There's a music lounge really close to here. I think _Ashes on Sunday_ is playing.”

“ _Ashes on Sunday_! No way, I know the lead singer!”

“You do? Dinah Drake? Oh of course she has that thing with Oliver Queen and _you_ are friends with Queen's son.”

“Pretty much. You a fan of them?”

“I like their music, I have some of their songs on my phones but they're not my favourite band. I do like them though.”

“Then yeah. Let's rock out to _Ashes_ even though it's Saturday today.”

They wandered leisurely down the street to the Ice Berg Music Lounge and even though the place had a reservations first policy that day the bouncer took one look at Dick Grayson and let him through without a word.

Kori raised an eyebrow, impressed “Wow, being a Wayne has its perks.”

“We _are_ in Gotham.”

“Do you think we're under dressed for the Ice Berg?”

“I think it doesn't matter because people will think I'm making a statement about old money versus new money or something.”

“I think you're right.”

“You know this whole time walking down the street I'm thinking this is unfair.”

“What's unfair?”

“You have a head start. You know all this stuff about me and all I know about you is you like blueberry muffins. Tell me about yourself.”

They found themselves on a couch and settled in “Um well what's to say, I have a globe-trotting older sister and an annoying younger brother and my parents which I'd say is pretty typical suburban-picket-fence-2.5-children-middle-class-American family.”

“You said before your sister had a sponsor?”

“Oh yeah, her goal is to go everywhere in the world so Red Bull sponsors her and then she does these travel vlogs for youtube and then they get bunched up and put on Netflix outside the US as well. It's called Anywhere, Everywhere.”

“A Netflix show, I don't know about you but that's not typical-suburban-2.5-children-middle-class-American family to me.”

“You missed out picket-fence, but yeah you're right I never thought about my life like that. I went to pretty much the opposite of Gotham Academy, I went to Cobblepott High.”

Dick snorted “Ironic since Cobblepott used to own this joint before Silena took over.”

“Silena?”

“Silena Kyle, my d-uh Bruce's ex.”

“Is that not awkward? What if she sees you and wants to talk?”

“Well I mean... it would have been awkward because of the way they broke up but we've come to reconcile. Plus she owns the joint I doubt she'll be actually around here.”

“I don't know, I've seen many Gotham Gossip articles about Silena and Dinah being friends.”

“True, she could be around.”

“Did I hear my name!” A voice came from behind their cosy sofa.

Dick looked around and sure enough, there was Silena Kyle in all her form-fitting black dress beauty “Hi Silena.”

“Hey Dick, who's your friend here.”

“This is Kori Anders, she's a model.”

Silena pointed ta her like she was trying to jog her memory “I know you, you model for that raven thing, I like her clothes.”

“Yep that's me, I'll be sure to pass on the message. Maybe you could collab on something sometime.”

“That would be wonderful!” She looked back at Dick “Come on Dick, how could you think you could come to my lounge and not sit in the VIP section!”

“Silena, you really don't have to make a fuss, we're just chilling out.”

“Nonsense, come on. Dinah and the band are there too, I'm sure she'd love to see you.”

Dick asked Kori if she minded and she replied “Of course not, a chance to meet _Ashes_ in the VIP section of a thing? Why would I say no?”

“Great! Come on you two.” Silena led them to the cut off section to the side with a decidedly more luxurious sofa and dimmer lighting if that were possible.

“Hey guys this is Kori Anders, Kori this is Lord Byron, you can call her Byron; Paloma Terrific; and Ditto. And of course Dinah Drake.”

Dinah stood up and hugged him warmly “Dick, how have you been?”

It was a pretty generic question but Dick knew what she meant, she was asking how he was holding up since Bruce's death “Good, all things considering.”

“How are the boys?”

“Tim's over-working himself as usual and but Damian's acting up less at school so that's good.”

“Really? Damian conceded?”

“I think he did it for my sake but I'm hoping it sticks when he sees how much more enjoyable school is when the teachers don't hate you.”

Dinah chuckled “Don't worry too much about the kid, I was the same back in my school days.”

“You've just made me 100X more worried.” He dead panned.

“Oh hardy-ha, aren't you funny. Maybe you should get on stage and do some stand up since you're so good at jokes.”

Ditto who was mute, signed at the group _'They'd probably enjoy his jokes more than your singing Dinah'_ and the group erupted into laughter.

Dick turned to Kori to translate the sign but she signed at him _'No need, I know some basic ASL'_

Dick nodded, impressed _'That's pretty cool, where did you learn ASL?'_

_'I was a girl scout for many years. At the time I didn't know why I needed it but it has actually been useful in my life more times than I thought it would be'_

Ditto grinned and switched to British sign language which she knew Dick knew _'She's pretty cool, you should keep her'_

“Ditto!” Dick exclaimed, turning slightly red. Sure they were going on another date but still.

Ditto signed again in British _'Use protection, kids'_

And Dick groaned “Oh my God. You're like a middle aged dad.”

Kori looked at them perplexed “Okay, I didn't get _any_ of that.”

Paloma shook her head at Ditto's antics “That's because she switched to British Sign Language, a language I also don't know. All I understood was the word 'you'.”

Lord Byron chortled “I'll tell you what she said later.”

“Mind filling me in as well?” Kori asked in a joking manner.

Dick glared at her and Bryon pretended she heard someone calling her “Oh what's that? We have to go on soon? I better make sure my drums are set up properly.” and she left the group to head to the stage quickly.

Dinah checked her watched “I know she was joking but we actually are on soon, we should get up there.”

They all stood up, hugged Dick in case they didn't see him again and shook Kori's hand “It was lovely to meet you Kori, I hope we see more of each other.”

“It was great to meet you too Dinah.”

The band introduced themselves and started playing and Dick and Kori sat there, listening to the music, letting the ambiance wash over them and sipping on virgin mojitos since they were both driving and it really wasn't that late.

Dick's not really sure how, but they end up making out on the black leather sofa, a bottle of untouched champagne on the table beside them and their mojitos long forgotten as they fell deeper and deeper into their kiss.

Kori's hands were in his hair, gripping those black locks tightly and Dick's hands were around her waist, pulling her closer, the ends of her hair sweeping over his knuckles.

Neither of them saw a patron of the lounge snap a picture of them, neither noticed they were so engrossed in each other.

 

When they finally decided to head home Dick walked her back to her car “Don't forget you still owe me lunch.” Dick grinned.

“How about we make it a dinner?”

“I'd love that.”

“What are you doing next Thursday?”

“Nothing yet.”

“Great, I'll pick you up at 8, dress fancy.”

“Will do.”

They kissed goodbye and Kori climbed into her car and drove away with a wave, leaving Dick to walk back to his own car in a happy daze. He hadn't felt truly happy since Bruce's death. Every moment had been tinged with the sadness of knowing his father was dead but today... today had been nice.

 


End file.
